Babylon has been a golden cup in the hand of the Lord, intoxicating the whole earth; the nations have drunk her wine, therefore the nations are going mad. Jeremiah 51:7 NASB Mad – The elixir of the gods is power. It is the aphrodisiac of self-sovereignty. And it is deadly. Jeremiah proclaimed that the world of…
Her princes inside her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves. . . Zephaniah 3:3 American KJV 1999 Roaring lions/evening wolves – “The hunger of the powerful knows no satiety; the appetite grows on what it feeds. Power exalts itself and is incapable of yielding to any transcendent judgment; . . . It is…
She did not listen to the voice; she did not receive correction; she did not trust in YHWH; she did not draw near to her God. Zephaniah 3:2 KJV3 Did Not – For the next four days I want to revisit the idea of power in the prophets. Zephaniah speaks out against the oppressing city. His words are…
But He answered and said to them,“When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’” Matthew 16:2 NASB 1995 Red– It’s worth reconsidering evaluations of leadership from some we consider exemplars. It all begins with Yeshua’s reference to folklore wisdom. “Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning.” Yes,…
If it is the anointed priest who has incurred guilt, so that blame falls upon the people, . . . Leviticus 4:3 Sefaria Blame– The principle characteristic of a biblical leader is reluctance. Men and women marked by God for leadership roles almost always wish they were not chosen. When you meet people who desire to lead, you would be…
“But not so with you. Rather let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves.” Luke 22:26 ESV Not so with you – I recently gave a lecture on Reluctant Leadership. That prompted me to look at some of the material I wrote years ago about leadership fads, especially the…
But I do not allow a woman to teach, nor to exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet. 1 Timothy 2:12 NASB Exercise Authority– You have got to be kidding me! That is probably the immediate contemporary reaction to the face-value interpretation of Paul’s remark. If what Paul says is really the biblical model for the…
But he was pierced [Yeshayah 51:9; Zecharyah 12:10 Sukkah 52a, Tehillim 22:17Targum Hashivim] for our transgressions, he was bruised mei’avonoteinu (for our iniquities); the musar (chastisement) (that brought us shalom [Yeshayah 54:10] was upon him [Moshiach]; and at the cost of his (Moshiach’s) chaburah (stripes, lacerations) we are healed. Isaiah 53:5 OJB Stripes– Some people think I am too pessimistic. They…
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, Romans 3:23 NASB All – Because we have focused our religious attention on justification by faith, we tend to read this verse as a preamble to the next one, that is, “being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in…
For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, Romans 8:3 NASB Weak as it was– God saved you, right? I mean, you couldn’t save yourself, could you? You sinned. Repentance and restitution don’t…
